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Trip Report: 10 days in England for a Christening

Gamla stan with many buildings and a body of water

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Trip Report: 10 days in England for a Christening

My girlfriend’s niece was being Christened in the north of England in late May and I wanted to be there.  Tickets can be very expensive in business/first when they originate in the states. Of course, insane deals can be had, but as a general rule it’s much cheaper if you fly roundtrip from certain parts of Europe to the States than vice versa. This actually worked pretty well as I needed to be back in England at the end of August for a wedding so the return flight would serve a purpose. The resulting trip ended up being A LOT of fun ( aside from the severe food poisoning I think I contracted from Swiss Air Shrimp) and ultimately routed me through Stockholm on my trip back home. It was a beautiful ceremony and great time with loved ones.

The Trip, May 2017:

The Great Circle Map of my flights…

a map of the world

How did I book the flights?

*The Outbound – Swiss Business Class*

This one wasn’t really too complex aside from locking down the throne seat on Swiss Business Class without paying the $200 early reservation fee. I searched with United and booked with United. I utilized, what I’ve been told is a dead deal, a trick to avoid the fee for booking within 21 days of departure.

United's close in booking fee sucks: Luckily THIS TRICK still works to avoid it

I had 60k-ish United miles needed for the biz seat ( 70k ) and transferred over what I needed to shore up the account from Chase Ultimate Rewards.

a stuffed animal on a bed

* The Inbound – ARN – LHR – LAX *

This one was a little trickier. I searched a bunch of different city combinations and found that Stockholm actually presented the best option for buying discounted business class tickets that routed through London. But, wait, Miles you’re already in England. Yeah…in order to save thousands of dollars ( which I wouldn’t spend in reality ) I flew from London to Stockholm to fly back to London =)  I took this is a fun opportunity to check out Stockholm with my girlfriend for the night.

a stuffed animal in an airplane

The Hotels :

I’ve stayed at a lot of hotels in London and wanted to try something different. I also have Hilton Diamond status that was extended for another year, a bunch of points from Hilton Surpass referrals, and thought staying off Covent Garden would be great. The Waldorf Hilton was great. The only problem, I got terrible food poisoning so my girlfriend and I never ventured into London to enjoy a couple romantic days together. Instead…I cuddled the toilet.

I used Cash + Points. 73000 and 90£

a building with trees on the side

I stuck with the Hilton brand when we went to Stockholm. The location and views are amazing of the Hilton Stockholm.

I used 40k points. No cash. Got an amazing upgrade.

a building with flags on top of it

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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